Electoral Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 – hits speed bump

Friday 8th June – Legislative Council Update

On Thursday 7th a number of differing issues led to the Government putting the Bill onto hold – at least until Tuesday 19th June.

First, the Cross Bench had begun asking serious questions about the impact of the ‘Third Party campaigner’ clauses, which had the unfortunate effect of capturing small but concerned citizens in a mire of paperwork – with some really nasty penalties for not having t’s crossed and i’s dotted.

The ALP has suggested some solutions to the Cross Bench and these are being considered.

Second, the Liberal Party – which has given some bi-partisan support – decided that the speed of moving from Final Draft on Friday 11th May to wishing an amended Bill be passed on June 7th was too fast.

The Liberal Party room has asked for legal opinions on some issues.

Also in the wings – the Federal Parliament is considering two related Bills. The Espionage Bill and the Foreign Donations Bill have both been waiting for Senate consideration. A large scale amendment block on these Bills was only tabled on Thursday 7th. These two Bills will have some similar effects on restricting and controlling donations, so careful legislators should check to see if they operate well together or should changes be needed to make administration a lighter burden.

Therefore

The very good news is the possibility of a lighter hand on civil society – we eagerly await news of the ALP amendments.

The moderately good news is those who doubt the Bill’s whole philosophy have ten days to get the word out – this horrid Bill can be stopped. The idea of legislative approval being given to the immoral ‘red-shirt’ campaigning in 2014 (with $10,000 a quarter per MP to use for Party purposes), the emphatic purpose of removing the need for supporters and donations from MP’s (by giving outrageously large $6 per vote and removing the need for supporters on Election Day), this is an attempt by a bubbled elite to say farewell to those pesky members and supporters.